Dyslexic-friendly typing program?

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Dyslexic-friendly typing program? - 3/15/2013 4:01:30 AM

AthenaSurrenders

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My dad is looking for something to help his typing- he's hunt-and-peck and gets flustered when customers are waiting. He is dyslexic, I know some people here have experience and wondered if anyone can recommend a product. I can only seem to find ones aimed at little kids.

Thank you

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RE: Dyslexic-friendly typing program? - 3/15/2013 4:11:09 AM

MadamAsianDom

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Perhaps one of those programs that types what you say.

I just did a quick google search, and a few of programs that resulted were:

Dragon NaturallySpeaking
Dictation Pro 0.91
ZebSpeech

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RE: Dyslexic-friendly typing program? - 3/15/2013 6:31:56 AM

LillyBoPeep

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Dragon Naturally Speaking is amazing, full stop. I have a friend who is very smart but horribly dyslexic, and I found a great deal on it on amazon. (Seriously, look for older versions - they'll go on crazy sale, just because the newest version is out with some features that you really don't need. =p) I think the newest one is 11 and I got 10.5 for like 60 or 70% off.

It is so used to the way he talks, that it will write crazy jibberish when I try to talk to it. =p It is really that precise and barely makes any mistakes.

(p.s. - the pro edition is going to have all the features you need, so look for that. you can run your entire computer with it. ^_^)

< Message edited by LillyBoPeep -- 3/15/2013 6:32:34 AM >

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RE: Dyslexic-friendly typing program? - 3/15/2013 12:32:18 PM

AthenaSurrenders

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Hi thanks for the suggestion.

I don't think a voice recognition program is right for what he needs at the moment. He mostly uses the computer at work. It's an extremely noisy environment (vehicles, heavy machinery, shouting), the computer is shared by several people who sort of jump on and off it for a few minutes at a time, and he is usually inputting short bits of info - codes and prices and stuff - into spreadsheets. A lot of the time he is also speaking to a customer and asking questions while inputting things into the computer. While the software might be able to cope with all of that, it seems like there is a lot of scope for confusion and additional messing about.

It sounds like it would be ideal for him when writing letters or things of that nature but I think the best thing for the day to day work is just some additional keyboard confidence. He is also pretty self-conscious about his difficulties and I think he might be embarrassed to be using that kind of aid - whereas he could 'secretly' work on his typing at home and no one would need to know.

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RE: Dyslexic-friendly typing program? - 3/15/2013 2:08:19 PM

UllrsIshtar

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I have dyslexia. When I taught myself how to touch type 10 years ago, I used this program: http://www.askmesoft.com/index.htm

It's not a fast program by any means, it doesn't promise results in "only 1 hour/2 lessons/whatever" you have to put in the time to learn how to do it.
But it does work. I taught myself to become a halfway decent typer in about 2 weeks, and then spend another couple weeks learning to increase speed, and accuracy. I have no idea if there may be better software out there by now, but I can recommend that one.

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RE: Dyslexic-friendly typing program? - 3/15/2013 4:08:25 PM

Lynnxz

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My mother taught me typing by throwing a towel over my hands while using one of those typing programs. After a while its all muscle memory, and swapping letters around isn't a problem

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